The present invention relates in general to machine interfaces, and in particular to communication between media delivery devices.
Currently, home entertainment devices such as DVD (Digital Video Disk) players, television receivers, and audio receivers generally include some form of electronic interconnection means to enable the devices to communicate with a corresponding device. One current mechanism for device interconnection is the use of the High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) standard, which generally uses a cable between devices in communication with one another. In some cases, this cable may have a terminal device in the form of a connector that can be plugged into various of the units to enable interconnection for at least video transmission
Control communications may also be sent over these cables, however, the communication interfaces of the various devices are not all compatible with one another. Incompatibilities may exist between devices from different manufacturers and sometimes between different models of devices from the same manufacturer. Enabling the various devices to work together within an overall system is rendered difficult by the above-recited incompatibilities.
The failure of the command interconnects is evident in view of the need for many users to use multiple remote control devices to manage their systems via the Infra-Red interface on each of the remote control devices. One approach to dealing with the above problem is to use a single remote control which can mimic the remote-control commands for each of the individual remote control units of the manufacturers. Another existing solution is to program these remote controls to join the commands together into a macro. One problem with the Infra-Red command sets is that they are a one-way control interface that lacks the ability to send information back to the remote control unit to indicate that individual commands of the macro have been executed. Since the macro commands must be executed in a specified order, a failure of any command may disable an entire sequence of commands.
Because a wide variety of media/entertainment devices are available for use together in individual entertainment systems, and because many of the remote-control-unit key sequences needed to implement specific commands are poorly documented, or undocumented, the existing art makes overall management of home theatre equipment and/or other media delivery devices very difficult. Thus, there is a need in the art for improved systems and methods for control of devices within home theater systems.
For the sake of discussion, we consider a current entertainment system that includes an A/V receiver, a Cable TV tuner, a DVD player, a television set, and one or more speakers. Initially setting up the system generally includes connecting wires between the various devices, ensuring that wire terminals are inserted into the right receptacles, as well as selecting, identifying and possibly memorializing (with a notepad, or with identifying tags on the cables and wires) the inputs to which the respective wires are connected.
For example, a first input for the television set may be for the DVD player. The input may be named by the manufacturer of the TV set, or the user may name it using a tag or other mechanism. However, an input can be pre-named “dvd player”, and if the user inserts the DVD player cable into a non-DVD player input, the naming conventions will be incorrect. The same input and cross-connection identification issues arise with the A/V (Audio Video) receiver, except that there are more input and configuration selections. Typically, there are also configuration selections for the type of audio (coax, tos-link, etc.) depending on the capabilities of the DVD player and TV Tuner. There are still further configuration settings to be established for the television set, which manage brightness and picture aspect ratio.
The steps a user needs to follow to watch a movie may include: powering on the receiver, the DVD player, and the television set, then selecting the proper input on the receiver for the audio, and then selecting the proper input for presentation on the television set. While the system may have functioning audio and video links to the television set once the above steps are followed, further adjustment to the configuration may be needed to fine tune the audio and video output. For instance, the audio for the movie may not come from the DVD player, but actually may need to be sent to the television and then returned to the AV receiver through a different path, necessitating a different input on the receiver to be used for audio depending on the digital rights management of the particular movie and equipment. The totality of the above-listed connection, configuration, and fine tuning adjustments may be cumbersome, especially for less technology-literate consumers, and may thus impair the overall enjoyment of the equipment and the media (whether movie, music video or other media type) to be played on the overall system.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a system and method for configuring a home entertainment system that is less cumbersome and more rapid than what is available in the existing art.